


In Our Own Image...

by brandyllyn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, I only do happy endings, Language Barrier, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandyllyn/pseuds/brandyllyn
Summary: Poe had a type. He’d admit it. And that type was "could kick his ass and steal his ship." It had gotten him into trouble too many times to count in the past, and yet here he was. Suddenly lusting over a perfect stranger based on the way she was touching his droid and the mental fantasy he had drawn up based on no more than a twitch of muscle and streak of grease.~~Vast majority of this is rated T. Explicit chapters are tagged at start and at top of those chapters.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the Resistance arrival on Ajan Kloss but diverges from canon from the end of Last Jedi. Watch me make up things about droids.
> 
> Updates M/W/F
> 
> Explicit Chapters : None yet.

Poe Dameron, Commander in the Resistance Army, hands down the best pilot in the fleet, hero of D’Qar, and one sexy guy - although admittedly that one might be just in his own head - was having a shit day.

It started when he fell out of his hammock that morning. He fell out every morning, but this morning was especially bad because he had somehow missed putting his foot down correctly to catch his fall and whacked his head on his table on the way down. Despite having strung up his hammock in a private little stand of trees, canvas tarps providing a roof from the rain and some additional privacy, he still cursed loudly enough to wake up several people nearby. Which on its own wouldn’t have been that bad either except one of them was Snap which meant Poe was never going to hear the end of it.

It had been downhill from there. Breakfast was leftover rations from the night before. There were no flight maneuvers on his schedule today, just endless strategy meetings. No mission in sight to get him out of this jungle either.

And they were running low on caf - so low the pots were being brewed less than half strength, weak and watery. Barely worth drinking even though he savored what little jump he could get from the murky beverage.

By the time lunch came around Poe was ready to throw in the towel. The day was not going to get better and to top it off, BB-8 was mad at him. They’d been arguing for nearly ten minutes while Poe was trying to eat lunch. A few other people had come and tried to make conversation but Poe’s bickering with BB-8 had made most of them quickly move on to other tables.

"Come on buddy," Poe pleaded with his droid. "I’m sorry, I know you don’t like it. But I can’t fix it right now either." BB-8 beeped at him with exasperation, ending on a trilling note that Poe would have called insubordinate if it hadn’t been paired with a sad whistle. "I know, I know. The moment I can get somewhere that sells the tools I need we’ll fix it I promise."

"What’s up with Beebs?" Jessika Pava asked, sitting down at the table next to Poe and clutching a mug of tea. Poe eyed the beverage dubiously. Last he heard they were on their third or fourth use of tea leaves and her drink didn’t look much better than his caf had that morning. But if the Black Squadron pilot wanted to pretend she was holding more than the dregs of what used to be tea he wasn’t going to say anything about it.

" _Someone_ pushed him down a cliff and now he’s got sand in his circuits," Poe replied, eyes carefully avoiding the man sitting across from him.

Finn heard him anyway. Obviously. He was sitting less than two feet away, he couldn’t help but hear Poe. " _I’m_ not the one who got us crashed on the sand dunes."

"I’m not the one who-" Poe started but was cut off by a mournful whistle from BB-8. He sighed, "I know buddy, we’re both really sorry."

"Real sorry Beebs," Finn echoed, rocking the droid affectionately with his foot.

Pava snorted, hiding a smile behind her mug when Poe glared at her. "Why don’t you take him over to the droidsmith," Pava offered.

Poe turned to her in confusion, seeing BB-8 do the same at his feet. "The who?"

Pava tilted her head at him and then blinked, "Oh yeah, you’ve been gone a while. We’ve got a droidsmith. Set up over on the south side next to the Mu _._ "

"When did a Mu shuttle arrive?" he asked.

Pava rolled her eyes, "With the droidsmith."

"Yeah Poe," Finn mocked, "with the droidsmith."

Poe glared at him. "What do you know about the droidsmith?"

"I know he’s over by the Mu shuttle," Finn retorted.

"She," Pava muttered under her breath and Finn gave her a glare before correcting himself.

"She’s over by the Mu shuttle, everyone knows that."

"Mmhmm," Poe grunted, looking down at BB-8 who was blinking up at him hopefully. "Right after lunch, I promise."

Without the constant interruption from BB-8 Poe managed to finish his meal in peace, Pava falling into step beside him after he pushed back from the table. She led him past the Command center and a string of X-Wings, then pointed out where the shuttle was settled next to a large canvas tarp strung between three trees. From where he was standing, it looked like it was covering nothing but crates.

He took a step forward and then frowned when he realized Pava wasn’t with him. "You’re not coming with me?" He asked

Pava shook her head, "It’s probably best if I don’t. She doesn’t like me much."

Poe glanced at the shuttle, then back at the pilot. "Why not?"

"Me? The Great Destroyer? Why do you think a droidsmith might not like me?" She asked sarcastically.

 _Oh yeah_ , Poe thought, _that_. It wasn’t that Pava _tried_ to get her droids shot, exploded, imploded, or short-circuited. It just always seemed to happen to droids that were near her for more than a few minutes. BB-8 flatly refused to fly with her, even when Poe had directly ordered him to once.

BB-8 was ahead of them both, rolling across the ground and investigating the new ship. Poe looked back at Pava, "Do you at least know her name?"

Pava shrugged. "I’m told she doesn’t speak Basic. She’s got a little translator droid you can talk to though. Name’s K-0."

"Great," Poe muttered as he watched her walk away. When he turned back, it was just in time to see BB-8 disappear around a stack of crates. "Just great."

Judging from the size of the roof tarp, the droidsmith’s shop covered several hundred square feet. She had stacked crates around several sides to create the illusion of walls and there was covering on the ground to keep everything out of the inevitable mud after the rainstorms. Poe ducked under the tarp, his boots making a hollow thunking noise on the ground cover.

He waited a minute for his eyes to adjust to the shadows and then raised an eyebrow. In front of him was a table, set fairly low to the ground, with a ramp leading up to it and an R4 unit in two pieces on top of it. The droid whistled at him as he went by and he gave it a nod. From that table there was another ramp to a higher table, this one scattered with a variety of parts. It took a moment before Poe realized the benefits of the arrangement. Different droids would need to be at different heights for repairs. And the ramps made it easy for them to roll where they needed to be.

He walked past the second table and around a corner made of boxes and entered a larger, enclosed area. The ceiling was tall, at least fifteen feet, and he could see various parts hanging from the poles that held the tarp up. Light filtered through the opaque fabric but the interior was mostly lit by a variety of battery operated lanterns and lights strewn around. He idly noted a hammock in the corner, and a stack of crates leading up to it. Falling out of that one could cause serious injury. On a table near to it, at a normal height, Poe got his first look at the droidsmith.

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. He’d met a few droidsmith’s over the years. One had been a burly Snivvian, another an elderly human woman. Enough to know that there was no one kind of person who was drawn to the profession. It required smarts, quick fingers, and mechanical know-how - but once you had those the possibilities were endless.

This droidsmith was… there was no other way to describe her than stunning. Skin a dark golden color, a few shades darker than his. She had large irregular shaped spots framing her face, extending along her hairline behind her ears and down the sides of her neck, underneath the wide leather choker she wore. They continued on, disappearing into her clothes and he wondered briefly how much further they went. She was Chasinian, Pava hadn’t mentioned that. One side of her dark hair was cut shorter than the rest - the rest falling over her shoulder.

Poe felt an instant jolt of attraction. It wasn’t just that she had striking looks, but the entire picture she presented seemed to be tailor-made for him. She was sitting on the table, knees spread wide and feet touching, BB-8 nestled in the gap of her legs like a small child. As he watched, she pulled off the sturdy work gloves she was wearing to reveal long fingers. She immediately began running her hands over the droid, pressing on sensors and caressing the edge of his panels with soft, graceful touches. For just a moment, Poe was irrationally jealous of his friend. He shook the thought off quickly. He heard BB trilling happily, popping open ports to show her the array of gadgets and mechanisms Poe had installed over the years.

As she stroked the droid, Poe could see her muscles moving. The white tank she wore left her arms bare, and she had a streak of grease along the outside of her forearm. She looked like someone who could not only kick his ass in hand to hand combat - but like she’d steal his X-Wing while he was still trying to catch his breath.

Poe had a type. He’d admit it. And that type was "could kick his ass and steal his ship." It had gotten him into trouble too many times to count in the past, and yet here he was. Suddenly lusting over a perfect stranger based on the way she was touching his droid and the mental fantasy he had drawn up based on no more than a twitch of muscle and streak of grease.

Then again, there was also the fact that she didn’t report to him. Or he to her. That was… on a military base that was maybe the sexiest thing of all.

He shifted his feet, his boots making the flooring creak and she looked up at him. Her eyes were deep brown, almost black, and she cocked an eyebrow and then tilted a head down at the droid. He flushed at her perusal and quickly coughed, trying to cover his face with his hand.

"Yeah, he’s a little beat up, _someone_ rolled him down a cliff." Her expression didn’t change and he quickly added, "Not me." He gave BB-8 a hard look, silently begging the droid to not rat him out to this woman. "Is, uh, is K-0 here? To talk to?"

The droidsmith gave him a confused look and made a clicking noise with her tongue.

Poe heard a rustle and a small single-wheeled droid, barely bigger than his two fists, rolled out from under a table. "I am K-0," it intoned, tilting a sensor array back to look up at him. "What need?"

Poe looked between the droid and the droidsmith before nodding. "Okay, well K-0. That’s BB-8," he pointed to the orange droid as though there might be some confusion and then grimaced, abruptly halting the motion and running his hand through his hair instead. "He’s uh, he’s had a rough time and he’s got sand in all his gears. I also think he’s got a sensor loose. I could fix it but I…" he glanced around the workshop. "I don’t have the tools. I was thinking I could borrow-"

As he was talking the little droid beeped and whistled in binary, aiming it at the woman holding BB-8. When Poe got to his last sentence he saw her shake her head vehemently, giving him an annoyed look. Or maybe a skeptical one. Or possibly some mix between the two. Whatever it was it wasn’t a look he had hoped for. Certainly not from her.

"Okay," he continued, listening to the little droid translate, "no tool borrowing. Would you be able to…? I mean, I was told you’re a droidsmith so I was hoping maybe…"

She was nodding, smiling at BB-8 and ignoring him entirely as she pried one of the panels off with her fingernails and set it gently on the table next to her. He heard her make a soft _tsk_ ing noise and BB hummed contentedly back.

K-0 tilted to look at him. "Will fix. Do good."

"Thanks?" Poe looked between the three of them again. "I’ll be back in-"

"Two day," K-0 intoned solemnly.

Poe nodded and backed out of the workshop, feeling suddenly like he was intruding in a moment he wasn’t meant to see. She looked up at him as he went, those dark eyes meeting his before she leaned back over BB-8 in apparent fascination.

Poe stumbled back out into the light, putting one hand out to catch himself on a crate and turning his head toward the sun.

"Sithspit," he muttered.

He wasn’t an expert, but he was pretty sure that hadn’t gone particularly well.


	2. Chapter 2

Kina brushed her hair away from her face with the back of one hand, holding the tool in it well away from her face. She’d burnt herself one too many times with a soldering iron to not be careful of the thing now. She wouldn’t even have risked it except that her other hand was occupied holding part of the droid’s circuitry together and if her hair continued to fall as it was she was going to set it on fire.

She waited a moment, then added another bit of solder. "There," she whistled and sat back, dropping the tool back into its cradle. "How do you feel?"

The little round droid flashed through a series of colors before spinning in place. "Much better thank you."

Kina smiled and patted the droid. When they had first arrived they had been full of long, pitiful stories about being shot at by tie-fighters and then covered in sand and tar and something that sounded like saliva. Amid the telling, BB-8 kept mournfully beeping that they were _not_ functioning optimally, as though they were revealing some great secret.

It had been cute. In fact, it had been _really_ cute. Enough so that she had actually missed the arrival of the droid’s companion. It didn’t matter, as he had only wanted to talk to K-0 - which was odd but also fine by her. There was something about being unable to to speak Basic that made people assume she lacked intelligence. Anytime she could avoid talking to people entirely was better off all around. It didn’t really matter that he was easy on the eyes.

As soon as the man was gone the BB unit had proceeded to tell her story after story of Friend Poe. Even when she had half the droid’s panels off and was doing a deep clean, BB-8 kept up an endless chatter about how Friend Poe always made sure that they were clean and functioning well. And how sad Friend Poe had been that he couldn’t take good care of the BB unit on Ajan Kloss.

The information had made Kina feel _marginally_ more gracious towards the pilot. BB-8 was in bad shape, and not all pilots were known for taking good care of their droids. Most seemed to see the units as expendable.

"BB-8," she whistled, ending in a series of clicks, "why do you call him Friend Poe and not Master?"

"Friend Poe asked me to," BB-8 whistled back. "Friend Poe does not like being called Master."

Kina tilted her head, studying the BB unit. That was… interesting information to have. Basic droid programming defaulted to the use of the honorific 'Master' for their owners. The only people she knew of who made an effort to change it were other droidsmiths, like herself. You could often follow the trail of a droid’s repairs based on the terms they used. Some went for gentler monikers, like Friend. Others went ever further past Master. Hells, Hukkin, on Tattooine, taught his droids to call him 'Oh Great One,' which was a bit of an ego stretch but he was also a damned good droidsmith and he had a gentle touch with them. He also had as great of a hatred for restraining bolts as Kina herself so she only barely faulted him for it.

She was so lost in thought she nearly missed the droid’s sudden movement. She barely had time to throw an arm across the table to stop the droid from leaving. "Whoa there little one," she whistled and clicked, "I’m not done with you yet. Let me get you put back together and then you can go back to Friend Poe. Okay?"

The droid settled back, turning their upper unit to her. "Okay."

Snorting, Kina glanced behind her, then up into the rafters. Once she’d gotten the BB unit cleaned out there was a maze of wiring and 'improvements' that she’d needed to sort through. Friend Poe had apparently been doing his own repairs which was… well she knew why people did it but Chasī above - she didn’t try to fly X-Wings, why did people think that just anyone could repair a droid?

She clicked her tongue, "K-0?"

The droid darted out from a small gap between the crates. They were always doing that, finding weird little bolt holes to go exploring. "Where are the converters? The 600 series."

K-0 immediately crossed the floor, bumping into a crate to Kina’s left. She squatted to read the lowest crate before moving to the next. The one she wanted was about three up, with two more stacked on top of it. Two heavy ones. Sighing, she gave herself the mental 'lift with you knees' reminder and started to shift the upper crates away.

"Hello?"

She dropped the crate, jumping back and letting out a sharp whistle. Behind her, she could hear BB-8 trilling happily. "Hello friend! I am much improved since you last saw me."

"Hey BB," the voice said and Kina turned to it. A young woman was cautiously standing near the entrance to the workshop. "May I come in?"

As was their usual wont, K-0 happily translated the woman’s words directly into binary. It was a programming flaw, one that Kina hadn’t been able to fix without wiping the droid’s entire core memory. And she wasn’t going to do that. No harm in letting the droid chatter to themself.

Kina nodded at the woman, gesturing to the BB unit to let her know she could approach them if she wanted to. The woman did, running a hand along the droid in a familiar greeting. "Hey there big guy."

"Friend Rey, I am enthusiastic to see you. Have you met new friend?" BB-8 beeped at her, flashing their recently cleaned lights.

"I haven’t met your friend yet," the woman turned with a smile and held out her hand. "I’m Rey."

Kina stopped thumbing through the crate’s contents to hold out a hand, palm turned open and upwards to show she had no weapon.She whistled at K-0, who translated for her. "This Kina."

Rey’s gaze swung between her and K-0 and Kina waited for her question. It was the same every time. "It’s nice to meet you Kina."

Okay, so maybe not the same. Rey smiled at her and Kina couldn’t help but return it. Then she turned to BB-8. Clicking to get their attention she told them, "I have a new memory convertor for you, but you’re going to need to power down completely so I can be sure this gets transferred correctly. May I do that?"

"I will not lose memories will I friend?"

Kina smiled, patting the droid reassuringly. "I promise you won’t lose a thing. I am very good at this."

BB-8 nodded it’s top unit before beginning a full power down. Kina waited, aware of the presence of the woman at her side. The slight furrowing of her brow.

"You speak Binary?" Rey asked.

Yep, there it was. Kina nodded, tilting her chin at K-0 before replying in a series of whistles and tongue clicks. "I understand Basic, but I don’t speak it." The droid translated for her almost simultaneously, which was immensely helpful, but their language processor left a little to be desired. It was necessary - otherwise K-0 was prone to add their own… color to the conversation. But her sentence ended up becoming "Know Basic. Can’t speak."

"That’s… I’ve never met any life form that spoke Binary. I thought only droids could." Rey sounded a little awe-struck which was the only reason that Kina didn’t start into her usual speech about the ill-defined lines between those who were considered alive and those who weren’t.

"It’s not perfect," she said instead, listening to K-0 translate about half of what she was saying, "it can take some units a little getting used to, especially the older ones, but I get by."

BB-8 was done powering down, slumped on the table, and Kina pulled a stool up to the workstation, swinging a looking glass down and turning on one of the brighter lights. She felt, more than saw, Rey pull up a stool next to her.

"Do you mind if I watch?" Rey asked, hesitation in her voice.

Kina gave her a sideways look and then shrugged. "Doesn’t bother me."

As she worked, Kina could feel Rey leaning in closer, trying to peer through the magnifying lens. After a minute Kina reached up and swung it slightly towards the other woman. Then she began to speak, listening to K-0 mangle the full meaning but getting the gist of it.

"The thing about a memory converter is that it’s all about the order. Most people don’t realize that. They think if you backup the unit then you can be sloppy about the part replacement," Kina pointed with a set of pliers at the bundle of wires she was poking into. "Each of these has a specific function. They’re like nerves of a body. I can replace one from one part of your body to another, but it will be different. It won’t feel the same." Kina gently nudged the bundle, pulling one free, and then another. "But if you do that too much or too often the whole system won’t work."

Next to her Rey nodded, eyes focused on Kina’s work. She’d never had an audience before, and she appreciated the other woman’s quiet presence beside her. There was something about Rey that was comforting - something she hadn’t felt since she’d left home.

"There," Kina clicked, setting the unit back into its place inside the droid, tightening the braces that held it. Over an hour had gone by and she stretched, feeling bones crack and rumble as she did so. "That should do it."

Tapping the droid’s power panel in a staccato series she felt the low vibration begin and then the top unit slid so that it was completely upright. "Friend!" BB-8 trilled, turning its photoreceptor to look at both Rey and Kina. "Friends!"

"Welcome back small one," Kina whistled. "How do you feel?"

"All systems functioning optimally!" BB-8 replied, spinning in place before wobbling slightly back and forth.

Kina raised an eyebrow, giving the droid a dubious look. "Are you sure your orbiculate motor is functioning correctly?"

"It’s odd," Rey said from beside her, "It’s as though I’m listening to someone speak in a dream. I feel like I should know what you’re saying, like the meaning is right on the tip of my tongue. But I just can’t get there."

Kina jerked her head to Rey, looking down and realizing that K-0 had disappeared at some point. She turned back to the droid on the table, "BB-8 can you repeat what I say in Binary please?"

"BB-8 can you repeat what I say in Binary please?" The droid parroted before titling to look at her. "Friend, for what purpose is this? You are speaking in Binary."

"Yes, but Friend Rey does not understand me," Kina told them. "BB-8 I’d like to check your orbiculate motor. I don’t like the look of that wobble."

"Oh, he does that when he’s happy," Rey interjected, looking between the two of them.

Kina looked at her, then back at BB-8. "Is this true? Do you move like this when you are happy?"

BB-8 flashed their lights, repeating what Kina said before adding, "I am functioning optimally and I am enthusiastic to be doing so."

Kina raised an eyebrow before gesturing at the table, "Can you get down on your own?"

Rather than replying, the orange droid rolled towards the ramp, hitting the floor at a steady clip and circling between the two women a few times before settling to a stop. "All systems are functioning optimally!"

Rey laughed and Kina felt her own shoulders shaking. It was hard not to be amused. BB-8 rolled over, bumping into Kina’s shins and she squatted down to eye level to the droid’s photoreceptor.

"I may return to Friend Poe?" The droid asked.

"If something happens to you between here and there Friend Poe will be very upset with me," Kina started but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I’ll make sure BB gets back to him, I’m going that way." The woman smiled at her and Kina smiled back standing and leaning against the table.

"Well as long as it’s on your head…"

As she trailed off Kina heard a thump, and then K-0 was back, translating her whistles into Basic even as BB-8 repeated it in Binary. The two droids looked at each other and then K-0 knocked roughly into the larger droid.

"No. Go. No. Bad." K-0 said quickly, continuing to ram into the other droid. BB-8 tilted his upper unit at them quizzically but was barely shifted by the smaller droid’s efforts.

"You two should go," Kina grinned, "before K-0 decides to bite someone."

Thankfully, BB-8 continued to repeat her words because K-0 just kept thumping into the droid, repeating "Go. Bad. Go. No. Bad."

Rey smothered a laugh, ducking around the crates to the front of the workshop, BB-8 close behind her. A few seconds later her head popped back around. "May I visit again?"

Kina nodded and watched K-0 chase them off. When the droid returned, mumbling to themself, Kina blushed. Then she began scolding them, but her heart wasn’t really in it. After a minute she dropped to one knee, stroking a finger along the side of her friend.

"No one will replace you K-0. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update schedule changed to M/W/F  
> When I'm in the homestretch of writing we'll go to every weekday.

Poe ran a hand through his hair, looking at himself in the small shaving mirror. He tilted his head back and forth, finally letting out a short curse. He’d messed up his sideburns this morning. One of them was noticeably higher than the other. It would grow back within a couple of days but today was the day he was supposed to retrieve BB-8 from the Droidsmith. He had kind of hoped that he would look good for it.

He leaned back, trying to see as much of himself as he could. He undid one of the buttons on his shirt and then quickly shook his head and did it back up. There was no reason the woman needed to see his nipples just yet. Anxiously, he pulled the sleeves of his shirt down, buttoning the cuffs in brisk movements. Then he hooked his thumbs into his belt, settling his weight back on one foot.

"Hey," he told his reflection, raising one eyebrow. The man in the mirror did the same and Poe groaned. He looked like an idiot. Scrubbing a hand across his face he grabbed his blaster belt and buckled it on, leaving before he spent the next hour trying to figure out how he could make a curl fall across his forehead just right. His hair was always doing that. Always almost in his eyes. But not today. Of course not. Today it was sticking up in seven different directions and no amount of cursing or trying to flatten it down with water had helped.

Pushing aside the cloth he used for a door, Poe nearly ran head first into Snap. The older man stepped back and Poe caught himself before falling on his face.

"Whoa there," Snap muttered, "what’s got you in knots this morning?"

"Nothing," Poe said quickly. Too quickly.

Snap raised an eyebrow, "Nothing eh? Does this nothing have something to do with finally getting your little droid back today?"

Poe released a breath. Oh, Snap thought he was anxious because he missed BB-8. He was, and he did. It was valid. "Yeah," he smiles at the older man, "that’s it."

"Come have breakfast first," Snap told him, falling into step beside Poe. They had to duck under the nose of Black One. Like every pilot on base, Poe slept within twenty feet of his ship. "If you don’t you’re going to be so caught up petting that little guy that you’ll forget to eat and then I’ll have to deal with hungry Dameron the rest of the morning."

Snap gave a dramatic shudder and Poe punched him lightly on the arm. "I’m not that bad."

"Who’s not that bad?" Pava asked, intercepting them as they passed Black Three.

"Dameron when he’s hungry," Snap informed her before Poe could say anything.

"Oh Gods no," Pava took a step to the side. "Is he hungry now? Are we going to get food? We can fix this Commander, hold on."

Poe gritted his teeth, glaring between the two of them. "I’m not that bad," he repeated.

Pava gave him a sympathetic look. "No caf and no food? Dameron, we’re _all_ that bad."

Grunting, Poe undid his cuffs, rolling his sleeves up past his elbows as he shouldered past them. "Insubordination," he muttered but neither of them seemed to pay any mind. They had gotten into a discussion about what food they missed most and Poe felt his own stomach grumble. Maybe stopping for breakfast first wasn’t the worst idea. Fainting from hunger in front of the Droidsmith probably wasn’t going to make a great second impression - and considering how… mediocre the first one had gone he was really hoping to be charming this time around.

By the time he was done eating and had gone through his morning briefing with the Squadron Poe was sweating. The humidity on this part of Ajan Kloss was never something to be sneered at, and today the air was still and hot to go with it. There was a storm coming, if not today then certainly tomorrow. He made a mental note to remind everyone to be sure their lightning rods were up. The last thing they needed was to lose a ship to electrical repairs.

Maybe he should go do that right now in fact. BB-8 could wait a bit, there was no need to… Poe shook his head, squaring his shoulders. The fact that there was finally someone on base who he was both interested in and could in good conscience pursue was secondary to the fact that he needed to get his astromech back. Flying yesterday with R2-D2 had been fine, but it wasn’t the same as having his little buddy onboard.

That settled, Poe strode confidently between the trees towards the Mu shuttle. The Droidsmith was in the front portion of her workshop today, her back to him, sitting at one of the tables and working on the R4 unit.

He coughed, not wanting to scare her. After a moment, he coughed again, louder.

Still no response.

He was getting ready to cough a third time when the little translator droid rolled out from under her stool. "Hi hi," it said, tilting up to look at him.

"Hi K-0," he greeted it. "Can you tell…" _Shit_. He’d forgotten to get her name. He could feel his eyes bugging out as he struggled to finish the sentence. " _Her_ that I’m here for BB-8?"

K-0 flashed a red light at him. "No. Go. No. Not here."

Poe dropped to one knee, propping an arm on it as he tried to meet K-0 at its level. "What do you mean not here?"

"Bad droid," K-0 said fiercely. "Go. No come back. Bad."

"K-0-" Poe started but the droid raced off, running a circle around the Droidsmith’s stool and looking at him from behind her feet.

"No. Go. No."

The Droidsmith finally seemed to notice something was going on, pushing herself away from the table so the stool was leaning back on two legs. She looked down at the droid and then turned, raising an eyebrow at him.

Shit, he was still kneeling. He rose quickly, dusting the knees of his pants off and smiling at her as she settled the stool back onto all four legs. She was prettier than he remembered, if that was even possible.

"Hi," he said and K-0 beeped, echoing him.

She gave a dubious whistle and K-0 translated, "Hello." Then another whistle and a tsking sound with her tongue. "What you do K-0?"

Poe blinked, then looked down at the droid. "I didn’t do anything to K-0 - I was just looking for BB-8."

K-0 translated for him and Poe saw her eyebrows draw together and then she relaxed, rolling her eyes and looking down at the little droid. A series of whistles happened, interspersed with clicks of her tongue. He couldn’t understand her, but could pick up K-0’s side of the conversation in Binary.

"BB-8 is bad droid. Want replace K-0."

A low whistle from the Droidsmith and a fond smile.

"Bad droid. Bad man."

She snorted and looked over at him and he held his hands up in his most non-threatening pose. More whistling.

"Bad man keep bad droid."

Poe didn’t want to interrupt but did feel the need to defend his own honor. "Look, BB-8 might be my droid but he’s got a mind of his own. Whatever he did, don’t blame me. I’m just here to keep him from setting himself on fire."

K-0 translated his words into Binary as he talked and the Droidsmith winked at him. Maker, she _winked_ at him and he felt heat flash along his body that had absolutely nothing to do with the burning Ajan Kloss sun. She whistled and K-0 turned to him with what Poe could only call smugness.

"Bad droid not here."

Poe blinked, "Yeah, you said that before. What do you mean he’s not here?"

The Droidsmith furrowed her brow before replying. "Rey take bad droid."

"Rey," Poe muttered, looking down at K-0 as it translated. "Rey took BB-8? Where?"

More whistling. "Rey say take you."

Poe grunted. "When?"

"Morning," K-0 replied, not needing to wait for the Droidsmith.

So Rey had been by this morning and left with BB-8. The Jedi often took BB-8 out with her when she was training. It just meant… Poe had spent the night before thinking of several topics for conversation that he could have with the Droidsmith today. But they all had kind of relied on having BB-8 there as he was the focus of most of them.

"Oh, okay," he fumbled, trying to think of something else to say. This was harder than he’d thought it would be. The language barrier, coupled with only getting garbled sentences back from K-0 made conversing difficult.

"Need more bad man?" K-0 asked after a gentle prompt from the Droidsmith. Those deep brown eyes were on him and he swallowed, gaze dropping to her pursed lips before snapping back to more appropriate locations. Poe looked at her workbench, at the pieces of droid strewn across it. She obviously had work to get back to.

"No, no," he backed away, tripping slightly when the workshop ground covering gave way to dirt. "I’ll just…"

He wouldn’t say he _ran_ away. But he did walk quickly. If someone wanted to be _very_ particular perhaps he jogged. But he definitely didn’t _run_ \- Poe Dameron didn’t run from things.

After a minute of walking quickly he slowed, then stopped. Raising a hand he rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. That had… that had _not_ gone well. Maker had it really been that long since he had flirted with purpose and not just for the sake of flirting? Long enough that he was a bumbling mess about it?

It was the translation problem. That was it. Nothing to do with him. If she understood Basic or he understood… whatever it was that she was speaking… this would all be going a lot smoother. Maybe he could bring Threepio next time. While the protocol droid could be annoying, he’d at least translate full sentences without color commentary - something K-0 did not seem to be capable of.

Yeah, that was it. He’d bring Threepio by next time. Then they could have a nice conversation. Just him, Threepio and….

Well shit. He still hadn’t gotten her name.


	4. Chapter 4

Rey sighed, pushing off with her foot and setting the hammock swinging. She’d come here to rest, enjoying the sounds of Kina working, the small beeps and trills that filled the workshop. But the third time she’d fallen asleep sitting up Kina had snorted, pushing herself away from the workbench and digging through a pile of things under a nearby table. She’d returned with the hammock, shoving it into Rey’s hands and pointing at an area high in the workshop.

Rey had gotten the hammock strung up within a few minutes and gratefully rolled herself into it. There was a breeze at this height, a gap between the stacks of boxes and the roof tarp. And, if she draped one leg off the edge, she could set herself into a gentle rocking motion by flexing her foot against what was below her.

It was, all in all, quite nice. And it certainly beat waiting around for the next thing to go wrong. If people needed her they could find her. But they would have to look and she kind of liked that. She missed the solitude of Jakku sometimes. As much as she loved her new life, her new friends, it was still so _different_ from what she had grown up knowing. People were always _talking_. Just for the sake of it. Just to fill the silence.

Kina didn’t talk. Oh, she whistled and clicked and tsked, but she didn’t _talk_. The sounds she made were soothing, flowing over Rey like a wave. Sometimes, the woman would whistle a low tune - not Binary, just whistling for the sake of it - and Rey could feel the hairs on her arms stand up. Kina was doing it now, a melody Rey had never heard before. It made her feel sleepy, relaxed, like she could float away.

If she concentrated, sometimes she could catch words when Kina spoke. If the pitch was just right, but most of the time it was a jumble. Kina might whistle something that sounded like three long notes, but then K-0 or BB-8 would translate long thoughts or processes. There were obviously other notes there, other frequencies, but Rey just wasn’t able to hear them.

Below her, she could hear the beeps and trills of the two droids arguing, along with occasional thumps. Poe was in strategy meetings all day and BB-8 had chosen to tag along with Rey. She should probably be in that same meeting. She just… didn’t want to be. She wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere she could relax for a bit.

That was apparently not going to be here today. K-0 continued to try to run BB-8 off anytime he was in the workshop. There was something about the other droid helping out Kina that made K-0 furious. BB-8, for his part, seemed befuddled by the smaller droid’s actions.

Kina had already run the pair off from her side of the shop, sending them away with a sharp set of whistles and clicks that Rey had not needed to have translated to understand the meaning of. Since then, K-0 had been making snappy digs at BB-8 who was trying to avoid the other droid. They were almost directly below Rey, and she was having a hard time concentrating on her meditation with their chatter back and forth.

The room went quiet and Rey froze. That was not peaceful silence. That was the silence of something lying in wait. She glanced down just in time to see K-0 push itself against one of the table legs, tipping it over onto BB-8 and then darting across the room.

A shrill whistle from Kina and Rey could hear K-0 beeping back furiously, saying something about BB-8 but it was so jumbled Rey could barely make it out. Kina turned to BB-8, hands on her hips, clicking her tongue and whistling. No one was translating but Rey could understand BB’s reply.

"It is not my fault Friend Kina!" BB-8 whistled at the droidsmith.

"It’s not," Rey called down, swinging her legs over and then into the hammock so she was sitting cross-legged - using the tiniest tendril of the Force to keep the sling from tipping over. "K-0 knocked it over."

K-0 looked up at her, letting loose a torrent of Binary that made Rey blush.

Kina’s sharp whistle sent the little droid scurrying, then she rolled her eyes and crouched down to help dig BB-8 out of the pile of junk that had fallen on him. Rey hopped down, lightly landing on the balls of her feet. That jump probably counted as Jedi training right? If so then she could honestly say that she hadn’t spent the day doing nothing.

Rey squatted down next to Kina, the pair of them quickly righting the table. Rey handed objects up to Kina who seemed to have a very specific idea of where everything should go. It looked like a haphazard mess to Rey, but Kina nodded after a minute and then smiled at her.

"Thank you," BB-8 translated.

"Not a problem," Rey smiled back before following Kina over to the workbench. "That’s quite a little troublemaker you’ve got in K-0."

Kina grinned at her as she sat back down. "Yeah, they are, aren’t they? Sometimes I wish they weren’t but… well…"

Rey’s forehead furrowed, "What do you mean? You can just reprogram it right?"

Kina froze, the grin dropping from her face. "But then they wouldn’t be K-0. They would be someone else. And K-0 would be gone."

Kina whistled again at BB-8 and the droid spun in place. "Apologies Friend Kina. Friend Rey, what Friend Kina said was 'And K-0 would be dead'."

"Droids can’t die," Rey said without thinking. "They can be destroyed but they’re not alive so they can’t…" she trailed off, thinking.

"They think, they feel, they make jokes and solve problems and in their own way they can love us and each other," Kina turned away from her, picking up a tool from the bench. "If you have a definition of 'alive' that does not include those things I am not sure it’s worth having."

Rey stood there, staring down at BB-8 who looked up at her with his photoreceptor. She’d never really _thought_ about droids before. They were always there, and she had grown attached to a few - including this one. But she’s never thought of them as alive. They obviously were made by someone, like ships and blasters and crates.

"People are made by other people," Kina whistled and Rey realized she had said the last of her thoughts out loud. "Whether it’s more of their own species or droids, every person is made by someone."

Rey pondered that as she watched Kina. "I’ve never heard anyone put it that way before."

"You need to talk to more droidsmiths," Kina looked at her from the corner of her eye. "It’s pretty common in our circles."

Rey nodded, pulling a stool up and sitting next to her. "What are you working on today?"

With her new information, Rey could see how differently Kina treated the droids than other people did. Always asking permission before working on them, asking their opinions. She whistled at them constantly, explaining what she was doing and stopping to explain further if she received questions back.

Is that why Kina could speak binary? Rey listened closer. It was a little awkward, having to parse out what BB-8 repeated in Binary. Rey tried to understand the difference between what the droid was saying and what Kina herself was saying. After a few minutes Rey finally asked, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Talk in Binary?" Rey answered and then shrugged ruefully, "I tried it last night but I could barely manage to get a few random words strung together."

Kina paused, setting down her tools and sighing. She seemed to have a moment of arguing with herself then she turned on her stool to fully face Rey. "My people possess the gift of music. We can sing notes others can’t hear, perceive a much wider spectrum of frequencies."

Rey had a follow-up question but BB-8 actually got there first. "But you do not sing Friend Kina."

"No I do not," Kina said, leaning down and stroking one hand along the droid, the other rising to touch the thick leather necklace at her throat before turning back to her workbench. BB-8 made half a noise but Rey quickly tapped him with her foot, motioning for the droid to stay silent.

"If you are going to stay," BB-8 repeated from Kina, "I could use a hand getting that DZ unit up here."

Rey nodded. It hadn’t exactly turned into a relaxing ’lay around and take a nap’ kind of day. But helping Kina haul droid parts around was satisfying in its own way. A few hours later, she said her goodbyes, BB-8 circling around them. She glanced out the front of the workshop, noticing the dark skies.

"Have you been here for a storm yet?" she asked.

Kina shook her head, an anxious look crossing her face. "I have not. Are they… bad?"

"They can be," Rey said honestly, watching the play of emotions in the other woman’s eyes. "If you want, I can go do my check-ins and then come back. I’ve got the hammock now and it’s probably drier here than it would be where I usually sleep."

She usually slept on the _Falcon_ but there was no need to point that out. Kina was staring past Rey, at the wind picking up and the roiling clouds overhead. Finally she nodded. "I would like that," BB-8 translated.

"Great!" Rey exclaimed as optimistically as possible. "I’ll see you later then."


	5. Chapter 5

Poe was jealous. He was man enough to admit it. Good old fashioned jealousy pumped through his veins as he sat in the Command center. It wasn’t logical. It was deep, centered in his chest and spreading out through his body until his fists clenched.

He was jealous of Rey.

 _She_ wasn’t forced to sit through endless strategy meetings. She didn’t have to listen as people droned on about dwindling supplies and troop recruitment. She didn’t have to pretend to be awake when Commander D’acy went over the base’s security protocols for the third time in as many days.

Next to him, Finn was struggling to stay awake as well and Poe reached out and kicked him with one foot. Finn lurched upright, "What?"

"It sounds like Finn is volunteering, Commander." Poe said in a quick clip, trying to hide his smile.

"I did? I am?" Finn mumbled, trying to look like he hadn’t just been woken up.

"Good to hear," Leia said with a smile, raising an eyebrow and winking at Poe as she turned away. Poe grinned back as the other officers broke into smaller groups.

"What did you just volunteer me for?" Finn whisper shouted at him.

"Cavern scouting," Poe whispered back.

"Cavern… as in _underground_?" Finn gasped, shock on his face. "Poe how could you?"

Poe snorted. "That’s what you get for falling asleep. Have fun with the lokka worms."

"What’s a lokka worm?" Finn called after him but Poe had seen Leia nod his way and was already halfway across the room.

"Yes General?"

"Go find Rey for me, I need to speak with her," Leia told him, leaning away from the people she was talking with. Poe couldn’t help a small sigh of relief. Leia rolled her eyes, "Wipe that look off your face. I’ll start to think you don’t like spending time with me."

"Yes ma’am," he saluted, smiling at her before turning on his heel and exiting. Finn glared as he walked by, deep in conversation with Commander D’acy.

Poe skidded to a stop at the edge of the tent covering Command. He’d been able to hear the rain but seeing it was another matter. It was coming down in sheets, wind blowing the water up ten to twenty feet inside the Command structure. Had he remembered to batten down his bunk? He wasn’t sure. Well, it was on his way to the _Falcon_ so he might as well stop by on his way. He zipped his jacket up and ducked out into the downpour.

Luck was with him as his bunk was dry and tight. But it was the only piece of luck he had. The _Falcon_ was empty save for Chewie who was re-running some electrical wiring.

"Hey, do you know where Rey is?" Poe asked.

"Gwwrrgghh," Chewie rumbled back and Poe groaned.

"The Droidsmith? All the way across the…" he sighed, "of course."

He stood at the hatchway on the _Falcon_ for a moment. It was _really_ wet out. As he looked, a flash of lightning lit the surroundings and a moment later he heard the loud crash of thunder. No matter how long they were on Ajan Kloss, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to these storms. They were beneficial, the large amounts of electrical energy shielded the base from radar and the rain kept them supplied in seemingly endless fresh water. But also it just made everything wet and sticky _all the time_.

Grunting, he shook the water out of his hair and plotted a path from the _Falcon_ to the Droidsmith. There were several tarps set up between where he was and there, even a few trees that might give shelter for a moment. Provided he didn’t slip and fall on his ass. Saying a quick prayer he darted for the first shelter, barely hearing the squelch of his boots in the mud.

Miraculously, he made it to the workshop without incident, stepping inside and shaking himself off as best he could as he looked around. There was no one in the front of the shop, not even the little translator droid came out to meet him.

"Rey?" Poe peered into the workshop. He could see lanterns swaying in the high wind, hear the howl as it moved around the outside of the large tent. "Rey?" A soft beep echoed and Poe saw BB-8 for just a moment before the droid slipped under a nearby table, disappearing into the back of the shop.

Poe moved around the crates, noting that there were now two hammocks strung up in the back room. Had she taken on a roommate? Thunder rolled through the structure again and Poe felt the ground cover shift beneath his boots.

"Rey?" He called again, pushing past a set of wheels hanging in a chain from the roof posts.

A low whistle and he turned the corner to see BB-8, sitting next to a table. "Hey buddy, is she here?"

BB-8 turned his photoreceptor up to look at Poe, then rolled forward slightly and Poe realized that he could see Rey’s shoes under the edge of the table. He walked over and squatted down, "Rey?"

"Shh," Rey held a hand up, eyes darting to the woman next to her. The Droidsmith was curled up in a ball, sitting back on her haunches with her arms wrapped around her legs and her face buried between her knees. She didn’t acknowledge his presence, only shivered when a crack of lightning lit up the night air.

Poe raised an eyebrow and Rey gave him a small smile. "I’m keeping her company."

"The General needs you," Poe told her and saw the concerned look that Rey gave the Droidsmith. Without thinking he said, "I’ll stay with her."

Rey’s eyes shot back to him, and he noted the slight hint of dubiousness. "Do you even know each other?"

Poe huffed a laugh, "Yeah, we’ve met. She worked on Beebs remember?"

Rey still looked hesitant, "Are you sure Poe…?"

Poe held his hand out, pulling Rey out from under the table and then hauling her to her feet. "I promise I’ll stay until the storm ends or you come back."

Rey nodded, eyes darting on the table once more before she squatted down and laid a hand on the other woman’s arm. "I have to go. But my friend will stay here with you. Okay?"

The Droidsmith didn’t respond and Rey gave him one last look turning to go.

"Wait," Poe reached out, catching her arm, "Where’s the little translator droid? K-0?"

Rey shrugged, "I don’t know, I haven’t seen it." Then she was gone.

Poe looked at the table, at the small space and obviously uncomfortably hard ground cover. He shrugged out of his jacket, dropping the sodden leather across the worktable. He was mostly dry beneath it, even if his bottom half was soaked through. Groaning, he squatted down, and then folded his body into the space Rey had just vacated. He cursed, trying to fit his shoulders in without jarring the woman next to him, but after a minute of squirming he had managed to stuff himself into the small area. He was bigger than Rey, and despite his efforts to give the Droidsmith room his hip and shoulder were pressed to hers.

"Well this is going to be interesting. You can’t understand me and I can’t understand you," he started conversationally, folding his hands over his chest. "Maybe that’s for the best. I have a tendency to stick my foot in my mouth where you’re concerned."

She didn’t respond and he settled deeper under the table, stretching his legs out in front of him. "So you don’t like storms huh? I was never particularly fond of them myself growing up. Storms meant I couldn’t fly and there was nothing I hated more than not being able to fly."

BB-8 flashed a questioning light at him and he nodded, gesturing with his head to the Droidsmith. Thankfully, his friend took his meaning and Poe felt the woman shift slightly when BB-8 pushed himself into the space on her other side. Now she was snug, between his body and the droid. If Poe had been a betting man he’d have said she probably drew more comfort from the BB unit than she did from him but he was okay with that. Thunder rolled through the tent and he heard her gasp in air.

"My mother used to tell me that storms were the souls of people who had passed on with something left to say." He kept his voice level, not even looking at her. Just having a conversation. "She said that every roll of thunder was someone making an announcement that they weren’t able to make before they passed."

As if on cue, a rumble of noise rolled across the two of them, making the spare parts on the table above shake. Poe smiled then frowned as she shivered next to him. "I don’t speak ghost but I think that was saying 'My daughter just graduated from flight school'." Another rumble, this one lower, not quite as loud, "That one is an older lady, she says her neighbor stole her jam recipe." He paused, cocking his head, "She’s pretty upset about it. I would be too. A really good jam is hard to find."

He sighed, resting his head back against the wall of crates behind them. "I asked my mom once what the lightning was. If the thunder was the voices of those gone, then surely lightning must have some mythic origin as well, you know? Do you know what she said?" He was speaking nonsense but it didn’t really matter since she couldn’t understand him anyway. "She said 'Poe Dameron' - that’s how I knew she was serious. She never called me by my full name unless she was serious." He paused, brow furrowed for a moment. "When she was really happy with me she’d call me Poe Bey. Those days I was only hers."

He could remember it. Remember his mom’s smile. The way she would laugh and show him the controls of the small transport. The day he’d successfully guided them out of a stall at six thousand feet without her help. He had been Poe Bey that day.

"I asked her about the lightning and she said 'those are electrical charges in the air connecting with the ground.' I don’t know why thunder has a story, but not lightning. I never had a chance to ask her." He took a deep breath, staring out from under the table, not that there was anything to stare at. He could feel a small puddle developing under him, where the water from his pants was collecting beneath him and he shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable.

And he kept talking.

"I used to not be scared of anything. Drove my dad up the wall. The number of times I came home with a broken bone or some weird bite because I had done something no one with a functioning sense of self-preservation would do… those were his words not mine by the way. I feel like I’m scared of everything now. No. Not everything. Just…" he sighed, watching the lights sway across from him. "Do you know what it’s like to be a grown man and be afraid of the dark? I have to sleep with a light on nearby. It’s ridiculous, I know. But… I was captured. A while back. Captured by the First Order. Maybe you heard about it… no. Sorry. You wouldn’t have. But anyway they caught me and … I’m supposed to be making you feel better so I won’t go into any details but ever since then I can’t stand the dark. I wonder if I had someone to share it with if it would be different, like you with the storm. It’s odd, isn’t it? How we can’t control the things that make us afraid. I guess if we could we’d be different people."

He stopped, skin jerking slightly at an unfamiliar sensation. It took him a second to realize she had turned, was leaning her head against his shoulder. She was still holding her knees tightly, but her whole body was tilted slightly toward him, her weight a steady presence. Cautiously, he lifted his arm and wrapped it over her, cupping her far shoulder and pulling her closer. She shivered against him but didn’t say anything. Didn’t pull away.

"You’re uh… you’re really pretty you know that? Sorry. Of course you know that. It’s just, I like looking at you. I don’t mean it in a creepy way. I just… I like looking at you. I like watching you work. I wish I could just hang out here with you, like Rey does. I’ve been by a couple of times. I don’t think you even noticed me though, you were caught up with the droids. Sometimes you bite your lip when you’re concentrating and I think about kissing you. Sorry. That’s not. I mean. Shit sorry."

Poe closed his eyes, leaning his head back again. Her weight was a solid next to him, grounding him even though he was the one holding her.

"Thank the Maker you can’t understand me right now. Everything I’m saying is trash by the way. If your little droid is listening, tell him not to translate any of this later. It’ll just be embarrassing for us both."

A bright light filled the tent, almost blinding him. Fuck, that lightning strike must have been - the noise that followed rattled Poe’s teeth, echoing around them like a cannon shot. She moved so fast he didn’t have time to react. One minute she was next to him and the next she was sideways in his lap, fingers curled into his shirt and face pressed to his chest. He shifted his weight, settling her between his thighs and then bracketing her with his legs, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close.

He laid his cheek against her head, "It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you. That was a close one but we’re still here. Nothing broken, nothing on fire. Right Beebs?" He waited for BB-8’s affirmative and then pressed a kiss to her hair. "We’re fine. I won’t let you go. As long as the lights stay on I can be your big strong protector. If they go out though, you’re going to have to trade places with me." He laughed at his own joke, running his hands soothingly up and down her spine. 

"This feels really nice," he murmured, "I know it shouldn’t. You’re obviously terrified and I promise you I wouldn’t dream of taking advantage. But it still feels nice. You smell nice too. Like honey and… grease? Okay, so that has no business being as sexy as it is. _You_ have no business being as sexy as you are." The storm was passing, growing fainter. Whatever that last lightning strike had been it seemed to be one of the last. "I wish I could figure out how to talk to you. There’s something about your eyes that just make me… I know how to talk. Obviously. And I don’t even need participation to carry on a conversation. Again, obviously. But you look at me and I forget how words work. It’s annoying. Do you know what else is annoying? That you can understand my droid and not me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Beebs," he glanced over at his droid and BB-8 flashed a series of lights in return, "but it’s not fair that he can talk to you and I can’t."

He kept holding her as the storm passed. Kept talking to her, silly thoughts and bad jokes and stories from when he was learning to fly until he felt her breathing even out. Her hands relaxed slightly on his shirt and he felt it loosen across his shoulders. He kept holding her even as he felt himself drifting off, the gentle swaying lights and the sound of her breathing lulling him to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Poe woke up with a crick in his neck, numb legs, and empty arms. He groaned, tilting his head and hearing a crack as he peered out from under the table - searching for legs or even his droid. The entire workshop was strangely silent. As far as he could tell, it was empty save for him.

It took some effort to crawl out from under the table but he managed it with minimal cursing, grunting as he stood upright and cracked his back. He was getting too old to be sleeping on the floor. Even with a very nice person in his arms. A nice soft, lovely-smelling, beautiful person who speaking of… where was she? It was definitely daytime, he could see bits of sunlight filtering through, but beyond that it could be any time.

His jacket was still on the table and he grabbed it in one hand as he made his way to the front of the workshop. There was no one there either. How had she managed to get out of his arms without waking him up? He was a warrior. The best pilot in the Resistance. He was supposed to be on high-alert, ready for danger at all times. Incapable of being snuck up on.

"Hi hi."

The voice at his feet made him jump and he cursed, looking down at the translator droid. "Hello K-0. How are you today?"

"Am fine," the droid replied.

"Do you know where your person is?"

"She eat. With bad droid," K-0 chirped sullenly.

"With bad droid," Poe echoed, eyebrows drawing together. "Do you mean BB-8?"

The droid nodded, rolling back a bit and then spinning in a circle. "Bad droid bad droid. You take bad droid. Go."

"What happened between you-" Poe started to say but the little droid had already dashed off, back into the shop.

Poe considered heading to the Commons first, getting breakfast and seeing if maybe she was still there. But his clothes were doing an uncomfortable amount of chafing, forestalling that idea, and he went back to his bunk instead. He scavenged up a fresh set of clothes and then paused, catching sight of himself in the mirror. He definitely needed a shower and a shave. No wonder she had run off. He looked like a nerf-herder. Before he knew it, it was lunch time and he could hear his stomach grumbling.

"Poe!" Rey called out to him when he ducked into the large shade structure that held the kitchens. "Sorry about that last night, I got caught up with the General and when I came back you were both asleep."

Poe blinked at her, taking a bowl of what looked like mush when it was handed to him. Was there caf somewhere? Even the half brewed stuff that was mostly psychological but frankly he’d take anything at this point. "You came by?"

Rey stopped, BB-8 rolling past her and circling Poe’s legs. He gave the droid a short tap hello and then looked back at Rey. She had a curious expression on her face, her eyes narrowed slightly. "What?" he asked.

She cocked her head at him and then grinned, "Oh. Nothing."

Poe drew himself up to his full height, trying to tower over her. It wasn’t terribly effective - he only had a couple of inches on her - but he was going to try anyway. "Rey what are you grinning about?"

"Nothing," she held her hands up, tailing him when he walked past her and found an empty table to sit at. He groaned when he sank down, feeling his thighs protest from being on the hard floor all night. Rey sat across from him, grin still on her face. "So…"

Poe hung his head, staring into the flavorless mush. "Rey I have no idea what is happening. Please either say what you mean or leave me to my gruel in peace."

"Wow, someone’s in a bad mood," she said as she got back up, beckoning BB-8 to follow her.

"I’m not-" Poe started and then realized what was happening. "Hey wait, I need my droid. _Rey_." But they were both out of earshot. "Damn it."

The mush was exactly as he imagined it would be, although it could be differentiated from yesterday’s gruel by the slightly smokey flavor. Whether it was intentional or just burnt, Poe couldn’t tell, but he choked it down anyway. They were going to _have_ to find some supplies soon. He wasn’t sure how much longer they could go on with these half rations. How much longer _he_ could go on.

He spent the early afternoon catching up on approvals, thumbing through the orders on his data pad and ordering requisition where absolutely necessary. He had a squadron meeting in an hour and he glanced across the Command area at the General. But she was deep in conversation with the Comms team and he decided against disturbing her. Maybe he’d go find Finn. He’d expressed some interest in learning to fly an X-Wing, this would be a perfect time to go over some of the ground school.

But Finn was dead asleep, sprawled on his stomach half in his cot when Poe poked his head into his tent.

"Finn," Poe whispered as loudly as possible. "Finn get up."

The man mumbled, pulling an arm up under him.

"Finn, we’re gonna learn how to fly." If it was _him_ sleeping on the bed Poe knew that that statement would have him sitting bolt upright and halfway to the flight line.

But Finn just grumbled to himself, shifting on the bed until his back was to Poe.

Poe cocked an eyebrow. "Lokka worm! Behind you!" He shouted.

Finn moved so fast he was a blur, off the other side of the cot and had it tipped over on its side to shield himself before he’d even fully woken up. "Where is my blaster?" He shouted and Poe couldn’t help the laughter. Hand gripping the post that held the tent up and his other arm wrapped around his middle as he watched Finn slowly wake up.

"I hate you," Finn muttered, blinking sleep out of his eyes and putting his cot back upright, bundling the blankets back on it in one pile.

"No you don’t," Poe corrected. "You think I’m great. Now come on, let’s go fly."

"No," Finn grunted, crawling back into the middle of his cot. "M’sleeping."

"It’s the middle of the afternoon," Poe kicked the cot with his foot. "Come on lazy bones."

Finn’s voice came back muffled from the pillow he’d drawn over his head. " _Somebody_ volunteered me for night shift duties. Now go away."

Poe supposed that was true. And a fair point. Sighing he ducked out of the tent, shading his eyes and glancing around at the passers-by. To his left, Artoo and Threepio were chatting back and forth about something and he grinned. Well there was a welcome distraction if he’d ever seen one.

"Hey, Threepio," Poe called out, raising a hand and walking over to the droid quickly.

Threepio turned, "Master Poe, how can I help you?"

Poe groaned to himself, stopping next to the golden droid. "You can stop calling me Master Poe to start."

"I am sorry sir but my programming-"

"Yeah yeah," Poe cut him off, taking one of the droid’s arms and turning him around. "I’m going to borrow you for a bit. I need your help."

"Well of course Master Poe, I would be happy to oblige."

Poe tried to hurry the droid along, but the shuffling footsteps could only go so fast. It seemed to take an age to get to the Droidsmith’s workshop and Poe didn’t see her when they arrived.

"Droidsmith?" Poe called out, ducking into the shade of her shop. "You here?"

She popped up from under a table, smiling and waving when she saw him. He smiled and waved back and saw her blush. Well _that_ was new and interesting. He was pretty sure blushing was a good sign. Then she looked past him and raised an eyebrow at his companion.

Poe led the droid into the shade, stopping when he was near the Droidsmith and gesturing for C-3PO to stand next to him. "This is Threepio. He’s a translator. I’m hoping we might be able to talk."

A short sharp whistle sounded from near his feet and Poe looked down to see K-0. "No. K-0 work. K-0 say."

Poe squatted, holding a hand out which the little droid ducked. "Heya buddy, you do a really good job. I just need to get a little more comprehensive of a conversation going. OK?"

K-0 tilted it’s conical unit up to him, then looked at Threepio. "Bad droid?"

"Well I never-" Threepio started and Poe cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"No, Threepio is annoying but he’s a good droid. He’s not here to take your place." Poe wondered if that was the little droid’s problem with BB-8. But then again, BB-8 didn’t have a translation subroutine so that probably wasn’t it. K-0 still seemed dubious but nodded.

"Great," Poe stood, clapping his hands, "this is going to be great."

The Droidsmith blinked at him, then looked at Threepio for a moment. Then she whistled, a few notes that ended with a couple of clicks of her tongue.

"She wants to know what it is exactly that you have planned," Threepio translated for him and Poe grinned.

"You can understand her, that’s great. Tell her in whatever language that was that I said hi." It wasn’t the most inspired opening but Poe wanted to be sure he did things properly. Didn’t want to rush in too fast here.

Threepio turned to her and gave a short beep. At their feet, Poe noticed the little droid, K-0, doing the same.

The Droidsmith looked at Threepio, then at Poe, then back at Threepio. Then she made a guttural clicking noise.

"She says hello as well," Threepio offered.

"How are you doing today?" Again, uninspired. But this was _hard_. Having to wait for Threepio and the little droid who was beeping along with him.

Poe froze, thinking hard. There was something about this that was wrong. Something that wasn’t adding up right.

"She says she is doing quite well today and thanks you for staying with her last night." Threepio translated the woman’s whistles. At their feet, K-0 repeated Threepio’s words in Binary.

Poe narrowed his eyes, looking at the little droid even as he spoke, "Threepio, what language are you speaking to her?"

"I’m speaking Binary Master Poe."

At the same time as the droid the Droidsmith gave a series of whistles and clicks of varying ranges, eyebrows raised.

Threepio turned to him. "She wants to know if you think that as a Droidsmith she would not know Binary."

"Well, of course," Poe stammered, "it’s not that it’s just…" Then it clicked. He turned to her, eyes wide. "Wait, you didn’t need Threepio’s translation."

She looked confused, whistling a low note and turning to Threepio.

"She wants to know why you think she would need a translation."

Poe’s jaw dropped. "You understand Basic!"

If he had grown a second head he didn’t think she could have looked more confused. More whistling and Poe could hear it now. She was mimicking the beeps and whistles of a droid. He could even almost pick out words now that he knew what he was listening for. It was harder, the inflections she put on the notes were slightly different, but he could hear parts.

"She says of course she knows Basic Master Poe," Threepio tilted his head, "and she wants to know if you’re feeling okay."

"I’m feeling fine I just…" Poe trailed off. K-0 was beeping and whistling when he talked and he pointed down to it. "If you understand Basic why does K-0 translate everything for you?"

She shrugged and whistled. "They just do that. It is a flaw in their code. If you’ll notice they are doing it right now," Threepio translated.

Sure enough, the little droid was beeping happily to itself, repeating everything that was being said by Threepio into Binary. Poe ran a hand over his face. A sudden, horrifying thought occurred to him. "Last night. The storm. You could understand me?"

She blushed, ducking her head to the side and hiding a smile. A whistle.

"She says-"

"I think I can guess what she said," Poe cut him off. Well, so much for playing things smooth. Taking it slow. "I’m so sorry, I thought… someone told me you didn’t speak Basic. I would never have…" All the things he had said the night before were flooding back to him. Had he really told her he was afraid of the dark? _Maker_ he was-

His thoughts were cut off by a hand resting on his forearm. She spoke and Threepio translated almost simultaneously. "Don’t apologize. It was very sweet."

"Sweet," he grunted. "Over-sharing I think is the phrase you were looking for."

She shook her head stepping closer and running her fingers down to grasp his hand. "No. Sweet. Like you."

Poe looked at her then. Held her hand and met her eyes and he saw stars sparkling in their depths. "I’m Poe Dameron."

She smiled. "I’m Kina," shrugging she squeezed his hand, "just Kina."

"It’s nice to finally meet you just Kina," he smiled back at her.

"It’s nice to finally meet you too."


	7. Chapter 7

Finn had the night off. In fact, he had the next several nights off because after a week of crawling around in the underground tunnels with beetles the size of his head and glowing worms the size of a Wookie that liked to spit stinking gunk at you - Finn had finally said enough was enough and gotten himself pulled from cavern duty.

It turned out, he outlasted everyone else on the assignment by three days. If he’d known that, he’d have quit several days sooner. And had several more shirts that he could still wear without smelling like lokka worm spit.

He was really going to kill Poe.

He could make it look like an accident. The man was constantly trying to pull off aerial maneuvers that no one in their right mind would ever attempt. Surely if he pulled the right wire his X-Wing would explode in mid air. He’d have to be sure BB-8 wasn’t onboard of course. The little droid was his friend.

Alternatively, he could just shoot Poe the next time they were out on a mission. It wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of opportunities. He could shoot Poe in the back and claim someone in the First Order had done it. Or a criminal. Or anyone really. He wouldn’t even need to cite friendly fire, just that Poe had winked at the wrong person and next thing - _pfft,_ blaster bolt to the back.

Caught up in his fratricidal fantasies, it took a minute for Finn to realize that there was no response when he called out Poe’s name. The pilot hadn’t been at dinner so he’d gone to Poe’s sleeping quarters near the flight line, hoping to have some choice words with him. He tried calling out again, checking for the privacy flag, then pushed the door aside and poked his head cautiously around the tarp.

"Poe?"

The hammock was empty.

Grunting, he let the door fall back into place, thinking to himself. He climbed the ladder next to the X-Wing, not bothering to push it over to the ship. From that height he’d be able to see whether or not Poe was in there.

The X-Wing was empty as well.

"Damn," he muttered, slowly lowering himself back to the ground. Well, if Poe was doing something else tonight he could just go find Rey to commiserate with.

Ten minutes later Finn was annoyed. He couldn’t find _anyone_. Rey wasn’t on the _Falcon_ , or anywhere else he’d looked. He had ducked his head into Command but the only person working this late was Rose.

"Hey, have you seen Rey? Or Poe?"

Rose shook her head, eyes on the radar map in front of her. She pointed to a spot on it and the Lieutenant next to her made a notation. "No, I haven’t."

Finn sighed. "Thanks."

"Have you checked over by the new droidsmith? I’ve seen Rey that way a few times."

"The droidsmith?" he asked and then remembered. "By the _Mu_ shuttle?"

"That’s the one."

Finn stepped out of command, waving at Lieutenant Kaydel as she passed from the Commons back to wherever her bunk was.

Now where the hell was the shuttle?

When he finally found it the workshop looked empty. The slant of the roof tarp was aglow, so obviously there were lights on inside - a lot of them in fact - but there was no one in sight. As he got closer, he noticed he could see a leg, up high, inside the tent. A leg attached to a shoe he recognized.

"Rey!" He called out and she turned to look at him. She was in a hammock, above a wall of crates and boxes. She’d been looking down to the other side but smiled when she saw him.

"Finn!" She called back and waved. She turned away, talking to someone on the other side of the wall, "Hey, Finn’s here." She gestured at him and he walked around the wall, seeing that it opened up into a larger area, surrounded on all sides by makeshift walls. Lights hung from almost every available surface, making it bright as day despite the close quarters. There were three people there: Rey, Poe, and a woman he didn’t recognize.

"What is this, some secret club without me?" he grumped.

Above him, Rey twisted in her hammock, pulling her feet in and looking down at him cross-legged. Poe didn’t even acknowledge his presence. He was sitting next to the woman, on a stool pulled up so close that Poe’s body was pressed from calf to shoulder against her. They were both leaning over a worktable, looking into one of BB-8’s tool bay disks.

The droid at least acknowledged him. Trilling at him and flashing his lights.

"Nice to see you too Beebs," he called out.

"It’s not a secret club, Finn," Rey said from above, "of course you’re welcome."

The woman next to Poe turned to him, a smile on her face. She was quite pretty and had a series of spots, framing her face and running down the sides of her neck into her shirt, the only break where they disappeared under the collar she was wearing. He’d never seen the like before. She got up, whistling and clicking her tongue. He heard BB-8 do the same.

He took the hand the woman proffered, shaking it. "I’m Finn." He gestured at Rey and Poe, "These two _used_ to be my friends."

"Ah, we’re still your friends Finn," Poe said, getting up to stand with them. Finn noted he was standing a little closer to the woman than was strictly necessary.

The woman whistled and clicked again, BB-8 doing the same. Then she looked at him. A long silence stretched and Finn darted a glance awkwardly from her to Poe and back. "Uh…"

"Oh shit," Poe suddenly exclaimed. "Finn doesn’t know Binary."

The woman blinked and then bit her lip, giving him an apologetic look.

"Where’s K-0?" Poe asked her.

It was Rey who replied, "I think he’s off sulking again."

The woman snorted and then tapped Poe on the shoulder, pointing at Finn and then herself, whistling softly. Poe smiled at her and then turned to Finn. "Kina wants me to introduce you two. Kina, Finn already told you his name. Finn, this is Kina - she’s the new droidsmith."

"I figured that part out," Finn said and then turned to her and smiled "It’s a pleasure to meet you Kina."

She gave a long series of whistles and clicks. Finn noticed that Poe waited for BB-8 to repeat them again before he responded. "Kina welcomes you to her workshop and wants to know if there is anything you need."

"No, I was just… trying to figure out where everyone went," Finn replied.

"Well, we’re here," Poe said, spreading his hands wide and then throwing an arm over Finn’s shoulder. "Let me give you the tour." Kina rolled her eyes and settled back on her stool, tapping for BB-8 to open his tool bay disk again.

"This is the build shop. It’s where all the major work goes on. Out front, the other tables? That’s for minor work, quick fixes that people bring by." Poe gestured as he talked, pointing to a far corner, "Over there is Kina’s private quarters. Rey had made herself a home away from home over by the entrance."

Rey waved and motioned for Finn to climb up. He did, sitting on top of the crates, legs swinging over the side. Rey was sitting in her hammock which swung about a foot above the crates.

"I’m glad you’re here," Rey said, leaning over and touching his shoulder for a moment. "I’ve missed you."

Finn flushed, feeling his face warm, thankful that it wouldn’t show. "I missed you guys too."

"Where have you been?" She asked, using one foot to set her hammock rocking.

"Poe didn’t tell you?" At her confused look he cursed. "Poe! You got me put on stink worm night shifts and didn’t even tell anyone? Cold man. Real cold."

Poe was back on his stool, snug against Kina. He waved a hand at Finn without turning around, their heads close together as they perused BB-8’s insides.

"How long has that been going on?" Finn asked Rey in a low voice.

Rey shrugged, "About a week I think? I’m not sure."

"Really?" Finn felt his eyebrows rise, looking at the couple. "Interesting." He hesitated before asking, "And she doesn’t talk?"

"She talks," Rey corrected, "she just can’t speak Basic. The whistling, it’s a form of Binary. Poe and I, we can both catch words but we need a droid to translate it into standard Binary."

"Oh, is it a… species? Thing? Another language?" He awkwardly asked.

"I don’t _think_ so," Rey shrugged, "And she’s not speaking another language, she’s speaking Binary."

"Binary _is_ another language," Finn pointed out.

"I guess," Rey replied, chewing her lip in thought. She turned to lean back into her hammock, laying so she could see Finn. "Tell me about these worms."

"Oh man," Finn groaned, "they were _so_ gross."


	8. Chapter 8

"You would waste our _one_ endless ration on sugar?" Poe’s voice was incredulous.

"You would waste it on _caf_?" Finn shot back.

"Caf keeps the Resistance running my pal, none of us would be doing half so much if we ever run out." Poe snaps.

The argument had started innocently enough. Poe was sitting on one of the workbenches, legs swinging over the side as he puzzled over a bit of metal Chewbacca had brought. The group had been bantering back and forth amongst themselves for the last hour while Kina was working on the droid that Wexley had brought in that morning. They needed a new sensor array, a tedious job that was requiring all of her concentration. Something that was hard to come by in the ongoing clamor. At her feet, K-0 was beeping happily to themself. As long as BB-8 wasn’t acting as a translator the little droid seemed to be happy.

Honestly, if she had known that her workshop was going to become a social hangout every night she’d have built it bigger. As it was, having six bipeds in it - one of them a Wookie - was making the space feel incredibly claustrophobic. Kina eyed the wall in front of her, trying to remember what was on the other side. Could it be pushed back a few feet? It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough help to make it happen.

"I just don’t understand your addiction to that stuff," Finn grumbled. "It’s nasty."

From the corner of her eye Kina saw Poe roll his eyes. "I can’t believe you… Chewie, if you could make one thing an endless ration here on base what would it be?"

The Wookie was out of sight behind her, but the low rumbling response vibrated through Kina’s body. "Wasaka berries."

Threepio translated the words almost instantly, giving the illusion that the words were the Wookie’s. Ever since they had realized that Finn couldn’t understand Binary, and that neither he nor Kina could understand Shyriiwook, the droid had been invited to hang out in Kina’s workshop whenever the group got together. The Wookie mostly avoided her, seeming awed by her presence in the room. It wasn’t unusual, but it did make nights like these a little awkward.

"Wasaka berries?" Poe turned too Chewie. "Aren’t those poisonous to anyone who isn’t a Wookie?"

"More for me," Chewie replied and Kina snorted, setting the panel she was working on to the side.

"You’re all being silly," Rey’s voice came from the side, from her hammock. The woman was almost never out of it when she was nearby. "What we need are high calorie, high nutrition bars."

Poe sighed, setting the metal down and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why are you always so practical? Kina, tell me, what would you pick. One food we could have an infinite amount of."

Kina thought for a second before whistling her answer. "Tibanna gas."

"That’s not a food," Finn pointed out.

"Beldoni eat it - so I think technically it _is_ a food," Kina retorted, listening to Threepio translate. "And that way we’d have endless coolant for the blasters and ships."

Poe grinned at her, "Now _that_ is a great loophole." He drummed his fingers against the table as he said it, one foot kicking the air.

Kina reached out, catching one of his hands. "What’s got you in such a tizzy this evening?"

"A tizzy?" Poe scoffed. "I’m not in a tizzy."

"It’s sabacc night," Finn said and Kina turned to look at him. "He’s always in a bad mood on sabacc night."

"You don’t like sabacc?" Kina asked.

"They don’t let him play," Finn said before Poe could.

Poe glared at him before responding to Kina. "My pilots have a weekly sabacc night. But I’m their commanding officer so…"

"So they don’t let you play?" Kina’s eyebrows drew together. "That doesn’t seem right."

"That is not the reason Acclaimed One. They don’t let him play because Dameron is a sore loser." This information came from Chewie, via Threepio.

Kina jumped in before anyone could latch on to the honorific. "Oh? Is that so? Mister Best Pilot in the Resistance is a sore loser? Color me surprised."

Poe rolled his eyes. "I am _not_. I’m just not used to it."

"He’s not a terribly gracious winner either," Rey pointed out.

" _Hey_ ," Poe set his hands on his hips. "Is this 'make fun of Poe' night?"

But Kina saw an opportunity and was ready to grab it. "You know," she said, keeping her whistles even, "if this space was a little larger we could set up a sabacc table and play here." She pretended to study the space for the first time. "If we pushed a couple of these walls back a few feet… yeah I think we could fit a table in the middle…"

Thirty minutes later it was done. Rey and Kina had moved one of the smaller tables to the center, scratching out an Interference Field on it. Finn was breaking up pieces of different colored foam insulation to use as wagering chips. Poe had managed to rustle up not just a sabacc deck and timer, but also a bottle of Corellian whiskey. He waggled his eyebrows as he held it up. "What’s the harm?"

Soon enough, the five of them were sitting around the table. Kina smiled when she saw Poe slip into the seat next to hers, his foot reaching over and tangling with hers for a moment as he leaned his elbows on the table and held up one of the pieces of insulation. "Okay, so these red pieces will represent small favors. Things like 'go get that thing for me across the base'. The blue ones will represent big favors. Something like-"

"Wash all of the lokka worm spit out of my clothes," Finn butted in.

Poe winked at him. "Yeah, like that. Everyone be sure to write your name on your chits."

At her feet, Kina felt K-0 wedge themself between Poe’s foot and her own, beeping angrily for a moment before settling themself in the space they had made. She gave Poe a rueful look and he gave her an equally sad one in return.

"What are the grey ones," Rey asked, holding one up. Poe looked stumped.

"Loyalty," Kina offered, raising an eyebrow at Poe’s narrowed look. "That person has to side with you on something. Against whatever."

Poe nodded slowly and then grinned. "Loyalty, I like that. Okay, does anyone _not_ know how to play sabacc?" He asked, picking up the shift timer and turning it on.

No one spoke up, but Kina noticed dubious looks on both Rey and Finn. Possibly Chewie too, but it was hard to read the Wookie’s expression.

"You gonna share that whiskey?" Finn asked, and the game was on.

Within a dozen rounds Kina had managed to only lose a couple of small favors. She wasn’t one to bet big, wasn’t as prone to risks as Poe was. The real standout of the evening, however, was Chewie, who had a tendency to drop giant bets and then win on them. He also always folded whenever it came down to just him and Kina - a fact Kina was hoping no one else had noticed.

"Are you counting cards," Poe asked dubiously when Chewie raked in yet another main pot.

"How dare you," Chewie replied, "I am a person of honor."

"Mmhmm," Poe hummed, tapping the table for everyone’s antes.

On Kina’s left, Rey was leaning her chin on one hand, staring at Kina as she tossed in a small favor token. Kina glanced her way then smiled to herself. The human woman was _not_ used to drinking. She had only finished one glass and was already looking loopy and on the verge of sleep.

"Rey it’s your bet," Poe prompted, face serious as he tapped the table.

"Oh, sorry," Rey mumbled, glancing at her card and then tossing them back at Poe. "I’m out."

"Rey," Kina clicked, trying to keep her voice quiet even though Threepio was translating it at the same volume he did everything else. "There’s nothing to call. You can just stand."

"Oh," Rey blinked. "Then I’ll stay."

"I raise," Finns said immediately.

Rey leaned closer to Kina, speaking in what she probably thought was a whisper, "Do you mind if I ask… how far do your spots go?"

Poe gasped, looking up from his cards with a scandalized frown, "Rey, you can’t just ask someone…"

"I asked if she minded!" Rey shot back.

Kina just grinned at Rey and then gave Poe a wink, whistling. "They’re called rosettes. And they go all the way down."

Poe froze. He swallowed hard, his throat working as he struggled to continue looking at her face. She could feel the tension in him as he fought not to follow the line of her rosettes down with his eyes. "Poe?"

"Mm?" Oh, he was _blushing_. From the tips of his ears down his neck.

"It’s your bet, Chewie called," she gently prodded him.

"What?" Poe blinked at her then turned to his cards. "Oh, yeah. I call."

Kina laughed, only the huff of air giving away her mirth. Without looking at Poe she gently moved K-0 out of the way and hooked her foot around his ankle, sliding up his calf as she said, "I fold."

"They’re very pretty," Rey commented and Kina thought she heard Poe muffle a moan next to her as her foot continued its journey. Kina heard K-0’s disgruntled mutterings as they darted off to find a place to power down for the night.

"Thank you," Kina replied. "They’re unique. Like fingerprints for humans."

"Can I touch them?" Rey asked, slumping slightly onto the table.

"That’s enough," Poe stated, rising from his chair and crossing behind Kina to slip his arms under Rey’s and hold her upright. "I think that’s enough for you. Chewie can you help?"

"Of course," Chewie said, using one arm to brush his pile of chits into the bag across his chest before getting up. "I have you," he said with a low rumble, reaching an arm down and lifting Rey up against him.

"That’s my cue too," Finn grinned, stuffing his chits into his jacket pockets. He held one of the blue ones with Poe’s name scrawled across it up. "Do _not_ think you will be getting off this one easy."

Poe smiled at him, gesturing for Finn to help him move the table back to its place before he followed Chewie out. Kina carefully scooped Rey’s chits into a bag and set it off to the side before looking through her own winnings. Grinning, she found a grey one with Poe’s name on it.

"I wonder what trouble I could get into with this," she asked, turning to look at him.

His hand closed over hers, pulling her to him. "I don’t think you needed to play sabacc to get that."

She raised an eyebrow, biting her lip. His own gaze dropped to her mouth, then slid lower, tracing every one of the marks on her body until they disappeared under her shirt.

"All the way huh?" She nodded and felt him step closer, his chest touching hers. "Maker what you do to me," he muttered before his lips touched hers and she felt everything inside of her catch fire and then melt in one sharp burst of light.

His mouth was warm, soft, gently pressing against hers. Varying the pressure, occasionally using his lips to pull on hers. He tasted of whiskey and himself, an intoxicating combination even if Kina hadn’t already had her own drink. He was taking his time, exploring, going so incredibly slowly that Kina thought she might jump out of her skin. She slid a hand around his neck, sinking her fingers into his hair and tugging him closer.

It was like she toggled a switch. His lips parted, his tongue caressing her bottom lip until she opened for him and then he was inside her. Stroking her. His soft moans reverberating through them both. His arms wrapped around her and he lifted her slightly until she was sitting on the edge of the table. She clutched him to her, returning kiss for kiss, letting her tongue play along his until she was forced to break for air, softly whistling.

"Poe."

As one they both froze at the sound, and then turned to look at Threepio. The droid cocked their head, looking at them both before looking behind themself. When they turned back they raised their arms and asked, "I take it my services are no longer required?"

"I think we can take it from here," Poe said solemnly and Kina had to hide her smile against his shoulder. She listened to the droid’s shuffling footsteps recede and then felt Poe place a finger under her chin, tilting her face back up to his.

"Where were we?"


End file.
